Machine for automatically manufacturing sheet metal chain



(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 1. I EEGGE v MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANUEAGTURING SHEET METAL CHAIN.

Patent ed Dec. 8, 1895.

ATTO'R N iEY AN DREW EGRAHAM. FIIOTO-LITHQVIASHINGYON. Ll!)v (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Shee1; 2. P. EGGE.

MACHINE FOB AUTOMATIUALLY MANUFACTURING SHEET METAL GHAIN. No. 560,605. Patented Dec 3, 1895.;

ANDREW BIGRANAM. PHOTO IIITHQWASHIN GTON. DIG.

(No Model.) 5 Shee-tsSheet; 3. F. EGGE. MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANUFACTURING SHEET METAL CHAIN.

Patented Dec. 8, 1895..

I g L as a3 be 51 INVENTOR AN DREW EGRAHAM. FHOTO-LITHQWASHINGTON. D10,

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4. 'P. EGG-E. MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANUFAGTURING SHEET METAL CHAIN Patented Dec. 3,1895.

ATTORN EY AN BREW BJSRANAM. PNOTO'UTHQWASHIN GTONJIC (N5 Model.)

5 Sheets-Sh eeb 5. 1 REGGE. MACHINE FOE AUTOMATICALLY MANUFACTURING SHEET METAL CHAIN.

No. 550,605. Patented Dec. 3, 1-895.

INVENTCR ATTORNEY ANDREW E GRAHAM PNOTO-UTNO.WASHINGTON D.C

Nrrnn STATES ATENT- Cit-Finn";

FREDERICK EGGE, BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE SMITH dz EGGE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANUFACTURING SHEET-METAL CHAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,605, dated December 3, 1895.

Application filed October 27, 1399.

To a, whom it may concern:

Beitknown that I, FREDERICK'EGGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Automatically Manufacturing Sheet-Metal Chain; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new, and useful improvements in machines for manufacturing sheet-metal chain, and has for its object to produce such chain automatically with great rapidity and at a minimum cost.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application, Figure 1 is a plan of my machine. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are sections, respectively, at the lines a, b, o, d, and e on Fig. 1; and Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are detail broken plan views illustrating the successive operations of the devices for bending and shaping the blanks into the form of completed links.

Similar letters and numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

,1 is the bed of the machine, having at the rear a shaft 2, journaled in boxes 3, on which shaft is mounted the power-pulley l.

5 is a compound cam mounted on the shaft 2.

6 is a carriage supported on the bed and capable of a free to-and-fro sliding movement in a way 8.

7 is a pin which depends from the carriage, and 9 is a coil-spring whose ends are secured to said pin and bed, respectively, whereby the rear of the carriage is normally retracted against the face of the cam 5, as shown at Fig. 2.

10 are the clamping and forming jaws, pivoted by a pin 11 on the carriage, so as to be carried thereby and capable of being opened and closed.

12 is a spring secured to the jaws in such manner as to keep the forward. ends thereof normally distended.

13 are studs which extend inwardly from Serial No. 489,259. (No model.)

the heel ends of the jaws against the opposite sides of the cam 5, the spring 12 also serving to keep these ends against the cam.-

14 is a camon the shaft 2, and 15 is a bell crank, one end whereof bears against said cam, while the other end is loosely connected at 16 to a collar 17, which latter is secured around a pin 18, which has a free vertical play through the bed. The bell-crank is pivoted at 19 to the bed, and a spring 20, whose ends are secured to the bed and the forward leg of .the bell-crank, keeps the rear end of the latter normally against the cam 14:. As the cam revolves, the bell-crank will be rocked on its pivotal point, thereby alternately projecting the pin 18 above the level of the bed and then withdrawing it below such level. Supposing, therefore, a blank 2f to be in a position athwart the front ends of the jaws 10, and the pin 18 to be projected above the bed, as shown in detail at Figs. 3 and 8, the action of the cams 5 14 will cause the jaws to advance, thereby bending the blank into U shape around the pin, as shown in Figs. 9gand 10. The jaws will then close around the bent link, thus shaping the link around the pin, as shown at Fig. 10. The pin will then be withdrawn, and the jaws carrying the finished link will be retracted to normal position. Thejjaws are interiorly shaped to conform to a finished link, and when the latter is held by the jaws the ends of such link will project beyond thev jaws, and such ends being provided with eyes 22 it will be readily seen that a succeeding blank may be threaded through said eyes preparatory to being bent and formed after the manner of the first-m entioned link.

I will now describe the means whereby the blanks are fed successively and interlooped with the previously bent and formed links.

23 is a block secured on the bed and having a guideway 24:, within which the blanks are deposited one by one.

25 is a block properly guided and capable of ato-and-fro movement. This block carries a push-finger 26, which fits closely within the way 24:. As the finger is thrown inward it will force a blank out of the way 24 through the eyes of a previously bent and formed link, the latter being. held by the jaws, as previously set forth.

A is an ordinary power-press mounted directly over the various mechanisms which form the chain.

B is the gate of the press, and O O are the punches which blank out the links.

D is the die having openings E F, which correspond to the punches C G.

The punch C cuts the eyes in the links, and a chute G, communicating with the opening E, leads the punchings into any conven-' ientreceptacle. The punch C cuts out the link from the strip of metal after the eyes have been punched out.

II II are ordinary feed-rolls journaled in uprights I on the bed J of the press, and between these rolls the strip K of metal is fed beneath the punches.

Mounted directly over the way 24 is a well 27. L are guide-wires, which are loose within said well and extend upward into the opening F. These wires are perfectly loose and are sustained in vertical position by the blanks themselves.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 5, it will be seen that the opening F is slightly contracted at the top and gradually widens at the bottom, the object of which construction is to cause a few of the blanks to be retained in said opening by friction against the walls thereof. The blanks in the Well and the opening F are the sole means whereby the wires L are sustained in position, and as fast as a fresh blank is deposited around the wires from the dies the bottom blank in the opening I will be forced from said opening, so as to be no longer retained by friction, and will drop down in the well. These wires rest at their lower ends against the bottom of the way 24, and said ends are rounded for the purpose presently explained.

NVhen the finger 26 is projected,it will strike against the blank which is in the way 24, and I said blank, as it is pushed forward, will elevate the wires L, owing to the rounded lower extremities of the latter, so that said wires will not obstruct thefree passage of theblank to the bending devices. When the finger2i6 is retracted, the wires will drop down to normal position and a succeeding blank will fall from the well into the way 24 in position to be forced out and delivered to the bendingdevices by the next forward movement of the push-finger.

The block '25 is guided in ways 28, and. a lever 29, pivoted to the bed at 30, is loosely connected at 31 tosaid block, the rear end of said lever beingheld in normal contact with the side of a cam 32, carried by the shaft 2, by means of acoil-spring 33, whose ends are secured, respectively, to said lever and thebe'd.

From. the foregoing it will readily be-understood that the combined action of the cam 32 and spring 33will cause the lever 29 to be 1 of which said arm is retracted swung to and fro when the shaft 2 is revolved,

. link, it becomes necessary to turn said blank from a horizontal position, so that it will lie with its flat side athwart the ends of the jaws in position for bending. This maybe accomplished in various ways, either by active or passive instrumentalities but I prefer to effeet the same by positive means, and I have therefore shown and will now describe such means.

34 is a rock-shaft journaled in bearings 35, rising from the bed, and having at its inner end a notch 3'6.v This notch is formed by securing an overhanging plate 37 to the shaft 34, although such notch might be cut in the shaft itself.

38 is a countersunk annular recess in the shaft 34, and 39 is a shoe fitting'therein.

40 is a lever pivoted at 41 to the bed, the heel end of said lever being within the groove of a cam 42, While the front end of such lever is loosely connected at 43 to the shoe 39. A coil-spring 44, secured to a post 45,1'isingfrom the bed, and to thelever 40, preserves the normal or inwardly-projected position of the front end of the lever, while" the cam by its action throws said end backward against the resiliency of said spring. Thus it will be seen that the shaft 34 is projected and retracted by the combined action of the. cam 42 and spring 44; Splined on the shaft 34-, so as to have a free sliding'movement thereon, is a crank 46-.

47 is a connecting-arm, whose rearend is guided around the shaft 2, soas to have a free forward-and-backward movement, and whose front end is pivoted to the crank 46 at 48'.

49 is a cam carried by the shaft 2 and having an effective bearing'against a roll 50, carri-ed by thearm 47, the offiee of said cambeing to throw said arm forward.

51 isa coil-spring, whose ends are secured tothe arm 47 and to the bed, and by means It will thus be clear that the spring5l and cam 49 will cause the shaft 34 to be-rock'ed back and forth for the purpose presently explained When a blank is forced by the push-finger through the eyes of a previously-bent link, said blank will. enter and. abut within the notch 36 in therock-shaft 34. Theaction of the spring: 51 will rock said shaft, thereby bringing the blank into avertical position preparatory to bending. The action of the cam 42wil1'retract said shaft, and the action of the cam 49 will cause" said shaftto be'rocked into normal position.

The hereinbefore-described bending of the blank occurs justafterthe retraction of the shaft 34,v while the action of the spring 44 and thecam 49 to bring said shaft into normalposition occurs, afterthe jaws 1.0 have been operated to bend and shape the link.

An adjustable stop 52 on the bed may be employed, against which the ends of the bent link are abutted by the action of the jaws in order to insure the proper alignment of such ends.

The operation of my improvement, organized as hereinbefore described, is as follows:

A blank is fed forward by the push-finger through the eyes of a previously-bent link within the notch in the rock-shaft. ter is rocked to bring the blank in a vertical plane athwart the ends of the jaws. The rockshaft is retracted, and the jaws in distended position are forced against the blank, thereby bending and inclosing the latter around the bending-pin, which has been previously projected above the bed. The jaws are now closed against the blank thereby shaping the latter around said pin. The latter is then withdrawn, the jaws are retracted with the link clamped thereby, the shaft is projected and rocked to normal position, a succeeding link is fed by the push-finger through the eyes of the link last bent and shaped, the contour of the cam 5 being such that the jaws are then distended at their front ends by the action of the spring 12, and the above-described operations are repeated to form succeeding links.

As fast as the chain is made in completed form it drops through the slot 8 into any suitable receptacle, the weight of the chain being sufficient to drag the completed links from the jaws, so that no clogging can occur.

It will be readily understood that the round ing of the lower extremities of the wires L insures the ready delivery of the lowest blank by the push-finger to the chain-forming instrumentalities, since the impact of the blank will cause these wires to be lifted out of the way, while said wires will drop and again rest upon the feedway after the blank has been delivered and the push-finger returned to its normal position. The metal from which the blanks are cut varies somewhat in thickness, so that some blanks may be a trifle thicker than others, but not too thick to interfere with the operation of the chain-forming devices; also, a burr is sometimes formed at the bottom edges of the blanks, and this, for all practical purposes, is the same as if the blanks were of unequal thickness. It is true that a thick blank, or a blank having a burr, may seriously interfere with the feeding and proper delivery of such blank to the chain-forming devices, in that such blank may obstruct the free movement of the pushfinger, but in my present improvement the upward yielding of the wires L permits of the feeding and delivery of all blanks, whether they have burrs or whether they are unusually thick, and, therefore, it is not necessary to provide any special means for surmounting difficulties caused by such blanks.

The lat- It will be seen that I have entirely separated the devices for feeding the strip of metal and for cutting and blanking out the links from the mechanisms which form the blanks into the completed chain, the advantage of this construction being that there can be no accident to such mechanisms due to any imperfections in the operations of said devices; also, should the dies or strip-feeding devices become inoperative for any reason the blanks may be readily placed byhand over the wires L at the top thereof and the operation of forming the chain continued without any cessation. The disassociation of these two sets of mechanisms renders it possible to run the chain -forming instrumentalities at a very high rate of speed, since no attention needbe paid to any particular harmony in the timing of the two sets of mechanisms, it being merely essential that the power-press should run at a speed fast enough to properly supply the blanks to the chain-forming devices. This is a great advantage in machines for automatically making sheet-metal chain, and the gist of my invention rests in the broad idea of providing the vertically-movable guidewires intermediate of the blanking and linkforming devices, said wires having their lower ends rounded and resting upon the feedway, whereby a supply of blanks is continuously and automatically delivered from the blanking instrumentalities to the mechanism for forming the chain.

I do not wish to be confined to any particular means which I have shown as comprising the devices for feeding the metal strip and for cutting out the blanks, and for forming said blanks into completed chain, since such devices are in the main very common and may be variedwithout affecting my invention, which latter pertains solely to the proper delivery of the blanks and not to the means employed for cutting them out or for forming them into chain-links.

I claim-- 1. In a machine for automatically making sheet metal chain, the combination of the feed way and a reciprocatory push finger opcrating throughout said feed way, with the separate wires having their lower extremities rounded and resting upon said feed way around which wires the link blanks are threaded through their eyes so as to rest upon the feed way in a column one above the other, said wires being perfectly free and capable of a vertical play, whereby when the push finger is projected against the lowermost blank resting upon the feed way said wires will rise upwardly to permit the passage of said blank and finger and will drop back to normal position and rest upon said feed way after said finger has been retracted, substantially as set forth.

2. In a machine for automatically making sheet metal chain, the combination of the die block and mechanism for cutting out the link blanks and depositing them Within said block,

the chain forming instrumentalities operating independent of the mechanism for cutting out the blanks, a Well for the reception of said blanks prior to their delivery to the chain forming devices, a feed Way immediately beneath said Well and into which the blanks from said Well successively drop, guide Wires Whose lower extremities are rounded and extend throughthe eyes of the blanks in said Well and rest against the bottom of said feed Way and Whose upper ends extend through the eyes of the blanks Within the die block, and meansas a push finger for driving said blanks successively out through said feed Way to the chain forming devices, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

FREDERICK EGGE. Witnesses:

R. H. BRODERICK, E. D. HINMAN. 

